The same thing is going on today. We have fellowship with people who pray, who give (Ananias did give money to the Apostles, maybe a considerable amount), who worship along with us, who may perform ministry of some kind, who may speak in tongues and prophesy.

But in their heart they are lying to the Spirit of God. They are pretenders. They are hypocrites. And I would go further in stating that while they may realize they are lying, in another part of their consciousness they do not realize they are lying.

This is why I said the present essay is frightening. What if such hypocrisy is true of you? Of me? Are we holding back part of the proceeds or are we really part of the army of the Lord, of those utterly sincere, faithful people who are not holding back part of the proceeds, who are giving all that they are and possess to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God?

When I see people who love to worship with the saints, who desire to be counted as a true brother or sister, and yet I know they are holding back in their heart, keeping one foot in the world, I pray for them. I pray that God will do something to show them the lack of sincerity in their personality. For if God does not do this but permits them to continue living a lie, they will have no part in the Kingdom of God. There are no hypocrites in the Kingdom of God; in the churches perhaps, but not in the army of the Lord, in the true Kingdom of God.

Such people are so close to eternal glory, and yet so infinitely far from eternal joy and glory!

What drove Ananias and Sapphira to want to be with the Apostles of the Lamb? Was it the Divine Glory they felt? Did they truly believe Jesus is the Messiah? They must have, because they put their lives in danger by gathering together with the believers.

Ananias and Sapphira truly desired the Kingdom of God. But there remained in them a trust in the world, a desire for the security and happiness the world appears to offer. They were not quite ready to launch out on the sea of complete trust in God.

This remaining flaw in their personality was enough to bring down Divine judgment upon them. There are not many accounts in the New Testament of the Holy Spirit acting so abruptly against sin. God is telling us something very important in this narrative. If we are to be counted as true members of the Body of Christ we must be utterly sincere, utterly faithful. Any lesser degree of consecration will finally bring destruction on the believer.

It is fashionable among Christians to claim if a believer continues in sin he or she was never saved in the first place. I do not believe the Bible bears this out. There is no evidence whatever that Ananias and Sapphira were not genuine Christians. Peter did not say, "Ananias, you never were a true Christian in the first place." Rather Peter dealt with the sinful act itself.

We can't just draw conclusions in order to fit our theology. We have to have Bible support for what we believe.

To be continued.